Everquest 2 Extended – A Deceptive Rip-Off

When I first read the news that EQ2 was going free-2-play I was pretty excited. I’m a huge fan of the Everquest franchise having played the original Everquest for five years and the sequel for over three and was looking forward to the idea of being able to dip back into EQ2 without having to pay the full monthly fee. Plus, being a strong supporter of the game, I also liked the idea of it attracting some much needed publicity, attention and new blood. However, instead of following the sensible F2P model that Turbine are introducing with LotRO, it seems that SOE have gone with a system specifically designed to deceive unknowing new players and extract even more money than the current monthly subscriptions.

Before I rip the whole EQ2X model to pieces, I just want to make it clear that I’m a huge, huge fan of Everquest 2. Although lacking the polish, slickness and newb friendliness that WoW offers, EQ2 is in my opinion one of the best MMOs out there, combining a rich backdrop, a great depth of gameplay, the perfect mix of casual and hardcore content, and a fantastic community. It’s also a game that has received a vast amount of love and attention from very talented developers and designers and, having first played from day one, I witnessed how they worked hard to fight back in the face of the domineering WoW and salvage an excellent game from a pretty stuttery launch. Unfortunately it just makes it all the sadder that SOE are trying to deceive potential new players and lock them into more expensive subscriptions.

Deceptive Rip-Off

EQ2X offers four subscription tiers, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum, each one costing more and granting access to more features. This is all fine in principle and I don’t have an issue with the Bronze (free) or Silver (one off $10 fee) plans as they allow people to play the game for a very low price. My issues start though with the fact that both Bronze and Silver come with huge restrictions on them that would make it impossible for anyone to play competitively and the necessary upgrades cannot be purchases individually. Even though additional races, classes and level caps are purchasable separately (again, fine with that), core and essentially pieces of functionality (like being able to use the broker – Auction House – or equip legendary – above uncommon – items) are only available once you subscribe to the Gold subscription at $14.99 a month. Yep, the exact same price as the current monthly subscription for Live players.

The real kicker though is that even once you’ve subscribed to this $14.99 a month plan, you still don’t have access to all of the content, level caps or races meaning that a player is going to have to pay more than a normal subscriber on EQ2 Live in order to access the very same amount of functionality. Utterly ludicrous.

Then there’s the Platinum membership, swooping in at a tremendous $200 per year and granting full access to, well, almost everything. Even with this mega plan you’re still restricted to a measly four races (out of a total of 19) and have to purchase each one separately, only God and Smed knowing how much that will set folks back. SOE also fail to point that a new player could pick up a copy of Sentinel’s Fate (which includes all previous expansions and comes with one month free play) on Amazon for $20 and subscribe to the normal Live version at the annual rate of $140, a full $60 less than the EQ2X Platinum plan. A far better deal plus you’re able to play for 13 months, not just 12, and have unrestricted access to everything in game.

My biggest issue of all is that EQ2X players are segregated onto their own servers and forums and can never transfer off onto the Live service. This means that once you’ve been lured into the game by the free version you have no choice but to pay for either the rip-off Gold or Platinum plans if you want to access the full game. SOE are effectively deceiving new players into paying more than a standard Live subscriber by hooking them into their characters first and then preventing them from moving away (players are forced to create a brand new account and start all over again if they want to continue as a traditional subscriber).

EQ2 Dead

The impact on the current Live servers is also going to be noticeable as not only will the free version of EQ2X attract people a lot more than the prospect of buying the game and subscribing monthly but SOE are also shutting down the normal 14 day free trial. It seems like they have every intention of migrating the player base onto their new high cost service and letting the existing one fade away and die as very few people will be joining the old servers.

Of course, even though EQ2X players can’t move to the Live servers, existing players are being allowed to move to the Extended servers at a generous $35 per character. Hmm… so I could pay $35 to copy one of my characters to a new server and then have access to even less content? Fan-flippin-tastic.

This whole turn of events is an unfortunate shame for the EQ2 community and I’m very disappointed that SOE couldn’t have just mimicked Turbine’s sensible F2P model for LotRO. What’s wrong with allowing players the options to play a cut down version for free, pay for only for the content they want or choose the normal, fair monthly subscription rate like before? It’s a win-win situation that far outstrips the greedy and narrow approach that SOE have taken. I can only hope they make some changes to their payment plans before launch.

215 Comments

So the server transfer thing, is basically banking on existing players, eager to join their free playing friends and show them how awesome the game is, eventually they all find out how bad the plans are, the new players quit, the existing player, angered, attempts to go back to his existing friends on their original server and find that they are now stuck?

That’s downright evil!

How much of a bad reputation does SoE plan on having? They butchered SWG, showed no signs of remorse of losing over 50% of their player base, now the game they DO treat well, is being turned into the greatest bait and switch gaming has ever seen.

I really don’t understand why SOE didn’t just do what Turbine did with LOTRO and make everything F2P but maintain the normal subscription (as Gold or whatever) with access to absolutely everything for those that want to keep paying the traditional way.

This really stinks. I don’t see why I am so surprised. SOE has never really listened to its players. It is really sad to see a game with so much awesomeness and potential go downhill. If SOE wants people to stop playing they should be polite and just ask.

As an advid gamer and player of both eq1 and 2, I was also very, very disappointed to see the Extended eq2 get chopped up so poorly. I don’t feel this is a move in the right direction. To me, this just seems like a path to retire the game. The sad fact for gamers is that we will continue to play the games released, continue to get our hopes up that we won’t get screwed in the end and continue to get screwed in the end. A new business model is needed for these types of games. As the player base evolves along with technology, the rest of the ship needs to change as well.

I would recommend only one of 3 options; 1) get over it and deal with it, 2) use the freedom we all have to change games, or best of all 3) become proactive and learn how to make a better game. I know option 3 sounds crazy to some, but with so many ground schools and online schools that teach game design, code, art, etc, learning to make games isn’t that unrealistic. I mean, come on, you spent tons of money over the last decade and invested huge amounts of time to enterain yourselves playing games. That time can be used to make them better. Who better to make improvements than those that experienced the mistakes first-hand.

I wish us all luck, no matter what game we play or what path we choose. I’m less than 2 years from finishing a degree program for animation. I’m done complaining. Life is too short.

Well said, CJ. I think SOE are quite desperate and this move to F2P is a real knee-jerk reaction. The sad thing is, it could’ve been really great had they followed Turbine’s example and implemented a fairer approach to it.

As a current playing EQ2 Extended fan i’m a bit happy to say that from last patch even bronze and silver members can buy a item (about 2.5$) to unlock the use of 5 high end items or 5 high and spells (better as what they normal can use.
So for about the price of 1 month subscription you can equip your character with some of the best items availeble in the game

I just got back to EQ2 3 months ago after quitting in 2006 when my guild broke up just after the Fallen Dynasty adventure pack (not expasnion – that would’ve been too much work) came out. Truth be told, I absolutely fell in love with the game again. SoE has seemed to learn a FEW mistakes of their past by streamlining the game UI and making a few things a bit more accessable. However, with that being said, I find myself wanting to leave the game again because of the utter lack of disrespect SoE Devs (Smokejumper being the no. 1 culprit) have for their client base. I didn’t think EQ2Ex servers would really HURT the games population much, and it hasn’t. What it HAS done however, is it has taken away Dev work time from the Live servers and the paying customer. Station Cash has gotten utterly ridiculous!!! I have never, nor will ever spend extra cash to buy something that should be easily obtainable in a game I already pay $15/mo. for.

I guess what brought this on is firstly SoE putting up arrows…normal wooden arrows, in Station Cash. They has claimed it was a “convience thing that would allow players to stay in their raid zones if they ran out of arrows.” ARE YOU SERIOUS!?!? After a few days of uproar in the EQ2 Live community, they were promptly removed from the Cash Shop. Everything had stayed calm through the EQ2 community (barring the ridiculous delays to server mergers) until last night when Smokejumper moronically admitted that this new Vampire Race (the Freeblood) being added to the game was originally added as a Station Cash only item! I can get past the fact that a Vampire Race doesn’t even fit into the lore of EQ2. I can even get past the fact that Developer time was wasted on the creation of a new race that has been universally met with negative feedback from the community. What I CAN NOT get past is the utter disrespect SoE blatantly has for their constomer base. Smokejumper went on to say that he “doesn’t understand what the big deal was, because SoE adding a new playable race to the Cash Shop follows the rules set forth by the dev team regarding the Cash Shop.” People complain about WoW being a “cash-cow” type of game… if that is the case, SoE can be considered Stalin to WoW’s Mussolini.

I abosultely hate WoW – but it seems that Blizzard is the only company that “gets it.” This is a game, your customers are you lifeblood. If you can not make them happy, at least, don’t patronize them by constantly mistaking them for morons.

Like or dislike WoW, it’s hard to not admire their ethos towards quality. I’m still a bit worried about their store (and can’t but feel that it’s Activision who are behind it) but so far they’ve been a very good example of altristic game development. They seem to care about making something good and will take their time to do it without compromise.

I’ve always been suspicious of the F2P MMO model because of exactly what we’re seeing happening in EQ2X (and LOTRO for that matter). The game ends up being driven by what can make money rather than by through quality. It’s no longer about making a good game to attract players but rather about squeezing more money from the ones they’ve already got. It’s a thin line but it can make a huge difference to the player.

If you had any clue what you were talking about you would know that you do actually end up spending MORE on the EQ2Ex servers if you want to have the entire game at your disposal. If you are happy with your 4 free races and like 8 classes (which are really 4 cause archetypes really the same for the most part) then great! you can continue playing the game in your treasured gear and not getting many groups because of that. What free servers do, is they bring you in to the free server and say, “If you like this game, and want to be half way decent at it, give us all of your money!” – Otherwise you’re wasting your time playing about 1/16th of the actual game.

As for people like myself who still prefer the monthly sub, forcing content through the Cash Shop onto us, is essentially telling us that our $15 isn’t good enough anymore. We pay the monthly fee so we don’t have to be nickle and dimed every few weeks for something new. Introducing a new race and saying, “Oh BTW – that will be an extra $65 (the total cost of the new race and all of its add-ons) for unlimited use of our creative copyrights” is just wrong.

To take it one further, Sony recently nerfed all of the racial traits of all races so no one could be more powerful than the other, THEN they add this new race that has a racial life tap (something they took away from like 3 other races). I’m assuming they did this so they could essentially get people to buy the new race at $65, then change their mains / alts to the vampire race – a min/maxxer necessity for $20.

Bottom line is companies are not stupid. Multiple games would not be switching to a “F2P” model if it didn’t benefit them in the long run. YES, I get it. F2P = Free for the basic package, but if anyone wants to experience then entire world set at their fingertips, it will cost a whole lot more. Picture it like this: McDonald’s starts giving away the buns for their Big Mac for free, THEN tells you when the cost of Meat is $5, the lettuce is $2, the special sauce is $2 and the sesame seeds are another $1. Something that would have normally been $6 is now $10 because the parts > whole.

““If you like this game, and want to be half way decent at it, give us all of your money!” – Otherwise you’re wasting your time playing about 1/16th of the actual game.

I wasn’t aware there was an “all of your money” requirement. I guess your argument is so fundamentally weak that avoiding abjectly idiotic exaggeration is difficult. And I’m just SHOCKED that someone will have less access to the game by paying less, or paying nothing at all. WHAT A FUCKING TRAGEDY!!!!

“As for people like myself who still prefer the monthly sub, forcing content through the Cash Shop onto us, is essentially telling us that our $15 isn’t good enough anymore.”

The next thing you know SOE will be charging people for Adventure Packs and Expansions. Oh wait, they’ve done that from the very beginning. Those bastards!

“As for people like myself who still prefer the monthly sub, forcing content through the Cash Shop onto us, is essentially telling us that our $15 isn’t good enough anymore. ”

It costs more to get more. SHOCKING! ALERT THE MEDIA! Where is Mike Wallace gggwhen you need the hard-hitting expose to unmask the corruption!

I”Picture it like this: McDonald’s starts giving away the buns for their Big Mac for free, THEN tells you when the cost of Meat is $5, the lettuce is $2, the special sauce is $2 and the sesame seeds are another $1. Something that would have normally been $6 is now $10 because the parts > whole.”

I’m not going to spend too much time on bad analogies. My IQ won’t allow it. EQ2 is not a burger. A burger is a consumable commodity. You eat it and then it’s gone. EQ2 is a service. You pay for access to it’s content. Thus one may pay once for certain kinds of permanent access or continually for recurring access. There is no such thing as permanent or recurring access to a burger. Options are available as to what kind of access you want. If you want to pay for complete access piecemeal, doing so with a flat fee is a better deal. Otherwise, you might choose to have access to only certain aspects of the available content. To try to make use of your idiotic analogy, if you want only two ingredients in your “burger” you might save money buying them individually (I’m going to ignore the particulars of your pricing scheme). If you want all ingredients, you will not. The CHOICE is yours.

All you’ve done is point out to us that there are certain levels of access to content that would cost more by choosing certain payment options over others. Big fucking deal. It doesn’t require a whole lot of intelligence on the part of the consumer to figure out which is the better deal for them.

The problem here is that you original statement was in response to Gordon’s original post that it actually costs MORE to play on an extended server. What you basically said that it’s stupid to say that cause it’s FREE, when actuality it’s not if you look at the big picture.

I’m not going to sit here and refute your rant. Ok – I was being sarcastic when I said “give us all of your money!”… If you’re going to take that as it is, fine.

As for my statements on Cash Shop items – I stand by that. In fact, Adventure Packs and Expansions are poor rebuttal examples. You are paying more for those because they are essentially “new games” with new content. Charging for new races that have, until now, been included in our monthly subscription is totally different. If you can’t see that, again, I’m sorry.

Lastly, obviously your IQ won’t allow much out of the box thinking… My analogy was purposely simplified only to help state that the cost of the parts is greater than the sum of the whole. As per Gordon’s post which you idiotically attacked originally: What he and I are both saying is that for the entirety of the game, you end up paying more than if you were to just originally play on a Live server. In fact, for the SAME price (or even more) as a full Live subscription you get LESS on Extended Gold / Platinum.

I said this above if you don’t recall:
“YES, I get it. F2P = Free for the basic package, but if anyone wants to experience then entire world set at their fingertips, it will cost a whole lot more.”

I’m truly sorry if you can’t see the difference. You obviously found it extremely necessary to kick and scream your arguments across to us and I appreciate your immense IQ’s take on the matter. Next time however, think a little before you post.

Look at it this way GGG. They are ripping people off by charging them a shit ton of money to play the game. It’s pay or else you won’t get far. Frankly, free to play means free to play. I shouldn’t be getting ripped off for wanting to play a game. SOE has fucked up majorly by putting HUGE, and I mean monumentally HUGE restrictions on everything. They could have done what Turbine did with both LOTRO and DDO and made a large part of the game F2P, allowing unrestricted access to high end weaponry and other equipment, as well as keeping a great deal of the Races and classes accessible to new players. However, I am not surprised that SOE id this, because lets face it. Ever since they utterly destroyed SWG, SOE has never been a trusting candidate for enjoying one of their games.

“What you basically said that it’s stupid to say that cause it’s FREE, when actuality it’s not if you look at the big picture. ”

No big picture will force me to get out my credit card. That’s always a choice depending on how much access I want. Anything else is just an exercise in determining how one might save or not save money for certain levels of access. Blatantly obvious to the most casual observer.

“Lastly, obviously your IQ won’t allow much out of the box thinking… My analogy was purposely simplified only to help state that the cost of the parts is greater than the sum of the whole.”

If out of the box means illogical and misapplied then no, my IQ won’t allow it. The problem with your analogy isn’t its simplicity. All analogies are designed to be relatively simple. The problem is that it 1) lacks a core and relevant element of that to which it is being analogized and 2) is deliberately designed to be restricted to a result not dictated by that to which it is being analogized e.g individual elements of the product priced so that any TWO will cost more than the whole. That’s stacking the deck and is the hallmark of a weak argument. If on the other hand pickles cost .50 cents and all I want is the meat and the pickles then the a la carte pay scale works very well for me.

“What he and I are both saying is that for the entirety of the game, you end up paying more than if you were to just originally play on a Live server.”

First, that’s not quite what he said. You seem to have an affinity for incompleteness. What he said, and that with which you obviously agreed, was that EQ2E was a “deceptive rip off.” That’s a far cry from merely pointing out that certain levels of access can be cheaper if one chooses different payment options. That’s a value judgment and an attack on the honesty of SOE. Please don’t pretend that this was presented as some dispassionate economic analysis when you know perfectly well it was not. Reread the title.

Second, the statement is only true if one assume you want certain levels of access that one may not one on the EQ2E servers. It’s really just that simple. But apparently having choices in how one plays and pays becomes meaningless so long as there exists any choice that is more economically sensible than another given any particular kind of play. To berate SOE as being deceptive for something both common and obvious is indicative of a mind whose interest in criticism outstrips its capacity for reason.

We obviously have either a lifetime SoE fanboi or employee here, so for the sake of ending the argument… you win. I could care less at this point. Best of luck to all of you who choose to play on the Extended Servers… I really hope it works out well for you.

I agree with Jason & Gordon. I used to play EQ2 and have played and came back for a while. I would like to play for free or at least not the hefty $15/month. I understand what ggg is saying, but if you wanted to play for free and level to 80 and never be able to play with Live players, you should at least have regular access to the bank/mail. You can use in game cash in other Free 2 play games to wear any and all items sold by other players if you have tons of in game money to spend. Check out Perfect World and you’ll see.
The only thing that I would like is to share the server with regular players and I’m happy.

Nothing, nothing, nothing is free in life. Im sure if one is a masochist they could level to 80 with all the restrictions. I went bronze and loved the game. I didnt understand the restrictions untill I had harvested a bunch of stuff and items and went to the broker to sell.
It was right there I had to make a choice. Do I quit or do I pay. I choose to pay because i can do so. 15 dollars a month is nothing for the fun Im having.

Listen we all have a choice. Dont pay and move on or pay and play. simple. I get so fed up with the SOE sucks mentality. SOE is like a drug dealer. Drugs are bad yet people still pay. Ive cursed SOE from EQ 1 and on. Everyone knows what they are dealing with so why do they act so surprised.

I understand that I am paying SOE for the right to play on their servers and if I have a problem with it I can stop doing so. EQ2 is not my life and I do not treat it as such nor take things so personaly. EQ 2 is what it is as is SOE.

I have been reading through all these posts, and I am just shaking my head. I have played EQ for many years. I tried out EQII when it first came out and didn’t like the way the economy structure was. All this is a mute point, however. The fundamental issue here is what are you getting for your money, right? If they are saying that EQ2 is free to play, some could take that as a bait and switch. However, again, SOE has stated their intentions from the start with regard to the “free to play” model of EQ2. Simply put, what they are offering is indeed free to play. Then, they state how much it will cost to move into more of the game. I would admit that anyone that puts in any amount of time into EQ2E will be disappointed when they fall in love with the game and realize that they have to essentially start over to become as immersed in the game as monthly players are.

Again, all a mute point. My wife and I play, typically during the winter months, to fill our time when it’s cold outside. We spend $15.00 per month (each) to play, but do the math… ever go out to a movie? Or have a “date night” even once a month? (heheheh… gamer geeks on a date, you’ve seen em). The going rate for going to a movie now a days is roughly $9-$12 each, and that’s without the junk food. We can’t go to the movies once a month for under $40-$50. And a typical dinner out at a good place… not even fancy, but not McDonalds either… will cost you the same. So, the $30 bucks we spend isn’t really that bad when you think about it.

I think there are enough people out there that turn their friends onto the “full version” of these games to steer clear of getting the “pay more for sections” whammy. I believe that it was mentioned in other posts the the logical way to look at this is just like buying anything in “kit” form versus getting it a piece at a time. I cringe at saying this because I’m sure I will get flamed, but it’s like buying a value meal versus buying the items one at a time at your local fast food place… one step further; if you buy off the dollar menu, you may like the taste, buy you still arent really getting what you want, you are getting only a taste… buy the super size meal and you will fill your belly and then some. Sure you pay more for the super size meal than single items off the dollar menu, but remember, the dollar menu items are probably not what you wanted in the first place. I believe if you read the original article, it is only giving “noobs” a user beware look into a seemingly free game. Free at first, but you will regret the choice in the end. (unless you don’t mind rebuilding characters when you sign up for the $15 per month full game)

Sorry for the rambling, but the bottom line is that even paying the $15.00 per month to play a pretty cool game and buying the expansions is still a pretty good deal.

Some of you completely missed the point. SoE has turned their backs on everyone who plays and has played EQ2 Live in the past. If I want my character from EQ2 Live on a WELL POPULATED and ADVERTISED server, I need to pay to transfer, then pay more money than I currently pay.

All the new people coming in to play have no reason and probably no information or links even pointing to EQ2 Live. It’s going to keep them in EQ2-X and take their money! This is ok, you want more, pay more, I agree. However, the EQ2 Live servers are left alone, no new people joining, and it will die out. These are the servers that kept EQ2 going for years and SoE says bend over.

From the perspective of a new player, this is great! From my perspective, I can play alone, pay more to transfer and use my 2-3 year old character(s), or start from scratch. Most likely I would require a name change as well. This is all backwards.

I for one could care less where people get there stuff. Use SC and buy it, I don’t care! I just want some new people to play with while using my characters that have been with me for years. My Characters. My Names. If you log in now, you might even see one of them standing alone screaming that. Oh the fun myself and I will have.

I found this article in a google search trying to figure out if SOE plans to undo this mess.

When i first read about EQ2X i was ecstatic! Its so expensive to play multiple MMOs and i always liked EQ2 just not enough to fit it in my budget. Then i read the tiers and just could not believe it. They where charging more for less than you would get on the live servers! I remember saying to myself “surely they will realize how silly this plan is and fix it’ but here we are today.

Another great idea utterly and completely ruined by SOE’s overreaching greedy nature.

After 5 years playing EQ and being one of the Vanguard launch players and seeing what a mess they made of that you would think i would have seen it coming a mile away.

Also i have experience with f2p MMOs and am very much willing to pay. I have over $300 into league of legends and $200 into the LOTRO f2p and have no regrets. I would have gladly forked over my cash to SOE had they had the simple intelligence to put the blatant greedy money grab on hold and use a system like turbine.

The real issue with this game is that you cannot uninstall it easily. It acts like a virus, and it is very difficult to remove. Can be done, but you have to be a fracking expert to do so. Using Windows’ uninstall does not work, at all (you will get an error message if you try).

If you had trouble uninstalling EQ2x then you have issues with your system or with windos. Could be a virus could be some other malware or could be damage to a file. I havae had total neophytes uninstall all eq2 versions with no problems.

If i remember my game history correctly SoE didnt make EQ they did ofcourse add to it and didnt do a very good job as the fine game creators blizzard have shown by creating wow from the model of EQ
If SoE could make games like blizzard could make games then all of the changes and ideas that you see in WoW that make WoW so good would have been the updates and patches that EQ had, but ofcourse as many have said and everyone who doesnt like being ass raped will find out SoE are bastards not game makers.
Interestingy (and probably alot of old EQ players will agree with this or at least know where im coming from) one of the best game experiences in EQ was the noob dungeon – Crushbone, this was super cool fun, mostly because of the horrifying danger, you could never be sure if you were going to zone into a train of death or not, unless there were loads of people outside ofcourse, but you dont know if people are fighting on the other side still, maybe you could help them? or are they trying and failing? or running the wrong way – dragging the train round the zone and making the situation worse, only to bring the train back into the station just when you thought it was safe this made for a memorable game experience and a comradery that is unmatched in the whole rest of the game, or any mmorpg that i have played since.
This dungeon, the Crushbone dungeon was original content and therefore not the work of SoE.
Well im gunna go in and see if the train has cleared, wish me luck =S
LOADING…
Orc Lego crushes you for 35 damage
Orc pawn swings at you and misses
An Orc Oracle begins to cast a spell..
Orc trainer crushes you for 12 damage
Dvinn slashes you for 85 damage
Dvinn backstabs you for 215 damage
you are dead

Could Someone explain what exactly the rip off is, what you dont get on ex for the 15$ gold that you do on live for 15$ ? Other than the races, This is a serious question im not defending of flameing anyone I’v just started playing ex and have seem everyone on here shouting about how its a deceptive rip off for new players well im a new player and i dont want to get ripped off so would you guys mind saying wot content you dont get for the 15$ that you would on live ? , as far as i can see it and the reason i chose ex was 1)I can get my friends into the game with out them paying a dime to start even the ones that have never played a mmo or are to casual to sub . 2) I can sub and level any class then if i dont want to sub anymore i can cancel and use less money to pay $7.50 and unlock my main to play on bronze, as someone said the 5keys for $2.50 unlock gear “if” you play to end game, ofc if you unlock all character slots and races and classes on bronze at once it will cost you alot more but then you should just sub if u want that stuff, if u want to save money and know what you want then you can but just unlocking that content. so basicly for $15 on ex i can play with friends that dont have to sub that play casualy and if i cant afford to sub one month i dont get totaly locked out of my account, doesnt seem a bad deal, If there are hidden restrictions in the 15$ sub on ex someone please let me know < my 2 cents thanks for having me

Also, a yearly subscription to Live costs $140 for an annual plan, or $180 month-by-month, as opposed to $200 per year on Extended.

SOE should use either Turbine’s f2p model, or the one used by Champions Online.
CO allows you to play the full game, on the same servers as subscribers, and the only restrictions are:
1) Some costume pieces are available to purchase – but mostly “themed” or “special” ones.
2) You start with 2 character slots as a free player, but can buy up to the full 8.
3) Free players use powerset archetypes, like City of Heroes. Subscribers get those as well as being able to use the Custom Powerset system (not a huge loss, especially for new players).
4) Subscribers get a recurring stipend of Cryptic Points to buy premium costumes, name changes, and such… meaning they don’t actually have to pay extra for those things.

Oh, and $200 gets you a lifetime subscription. Not a year’s subscription, LIFETIME. One payment, and you’re a Gold member for good.

You think maybe I could buy a MMORPG. . . For say $100. I’m just thinking, where dose a good game go to die? I would submit, it goes to a stock holders meeting. Nothing kills a good game like the words “broader appeal”. What if the games were offered up to the gamers, if you could buy stock (or something like it) in the game you love. If that stock gave you a voice & a vote in upcoming changes to the game. If the changes we aloud kept the game played at a sustainable level fine the company makes it’s nut off it’s game, and we have a real say in it. If we tank the game, well they got there R&D money out when we bought the stock, and the game we loved went down swinging. If the game rocks, you & I played a part in keeping it a gamers game. Just an old old RPGer thinking out loud.

I love EQ2-Extended. It’s not made for normal EQ2 gamers. It’s made for me, the casual gamer.

I played EQ1 for years but got busy with other thing IRL. I have some free time here and there, but I can’t play 20+ hrs/week anymore. EQ2 Extended allows me to play a few chars and enjoy questing casually with some friends.

No more pressure that I’m wasting my $15/mo because I’m not playing very often. We got the Silver tier since it allows some cool stuff and no monthly fee. Yeah I agree Gold tier is worthless. If you want Gold service, just join regular EQ2 instead!

tl;dr: If you’re a hardcore MMORPGer just play EQ2.–if you’re casual and don’t want to keep paying monthly over and over, play EQ2 Extended for a single flat fee or free.

I’m playing eq2e now.. I’m silver but refuse to go gold for the stuff mentioned in this article. I don’t care they have a platinum version for SC points (I don’t want the SC points) but still being limited to 4 races and level 80 and paying the same price as live, NO thank you. And you ask why I don’t just sub to the live server? Its simple.. They are dead at least for those not at/near capped level making it harder for those starting out to find people to play with. I personally can live without the broker the thing that would make me want to go gold is spells and full race/class unlocks but that’s not what happens on extended!

Dear SOE, you made $10 (one time) off me but you could be making $15/month you do the math!

Ok, first off, read my comment below. Second off. Everquest 2 is not a Rip-Off just because we wont give you the Race Pack Upgrades, which is because they have to be purchased with SC. Third, you would get more spells if you upgraded to Gold Membership. Becuase some of the spells you loot now of the corpses of the things you kill, you cant use them because your not Gold. And again, if you read my comment below, you will see that with a Gold Membership you can have access to EVERYTHING accept the Race Pack Upgrades, for as i said, they can only be purchased with SC.

Sup guys, i’ve been wanting to buy an MMO for awhile now but the problem is i don’t like PvP so i dont wan’t to pay for that. I also don’t have time for raiding so if you can give me a discount on a monthly fee that would be awesome. I hate questing also i just like grinding stuff so if you can give me a discount for that as well. If you cant give me discount then i’ll take some epics or something maybe a weapon just to get started.

Oh, i also don’t like talking to people so if you can discount the whole multiplayer thing that would be awesome. I like my game tailored toward what i want so i’m going to have to ask you guys to make this bronze/silver/gold/plat/diamond/master/grandmaster priceing idea more frustrating and complicated for the players who like to play your bad game.

There had always been a thought at the back of my head that the freebie server was just a rip-off. Now I absolutely know. They don’t even offer the option to work/grind for in-game points to access content without having to pay for them. At least DDO gave players a free, if time consuming, means of achieving something.

Now the few people I talk to who play EQ2 Live can have solid proof of why they should quit forking over money to SOE and join me somewhere else that isn’t quite as obvious in their greed. Somewhere like, oh, Guild Wars 2.

Your rant is way offbase. The only difference that I see between the live and extended gold plan is that not all the races are available. Does this constitute a big huge ripoff? Hardly. Currently for a mere $7.50 I can unlock 3 races of my choice. Are you going to play all the races? Probably only your favorite so the big rip off amounts to $7.50. I guess if your a crazy race fanatic you could run up a bill to $37.50 which would cover all the races permanently, and then you will have exactly what a live server has, a bunch of races that your probably not going to play all of anyway.

The problem with transferring a character from the extended to live is obvious. It would be a game killer. Everyone would level their character to 90 on extended, and then transfer over to live. There is no insidious motive here.

In fact, with a small number of one time investments, I can completely enjoy the game at a fraction of the cost of a monthly fee with epic gear for years to come…If you want me to go over all the details with you dollar for dollar, and compare it to the much larger cost of paying a monthly I will be more than happy to.

Ok, First off. The person who wrote this is not telling the entire truth!!! A free and silver account, yes he/she is right, you do have restrictions. But when you get the Gold Membership you have access to EVERYTHING inside the game, accept the race packs. This includes the Broker, all your Bank slots, and all your Bag slots. when you have a Platinum Membership, you still have access to EVERYTHING, accept the race packs. But this is only because Race Packs can only be purchased with Station Cash, which, when you have a Platinum Membership you dont even need to worry about buying Station Cash, because every month you will get 500 Station Cash for FREE!!! Then, after about 4 months, you can buy all the Race Pack Upgrades your Little Heart Desires!! Next time, “Person who worte this” Do more of your research!

I quit eq2 like 5 years ago, had top end raid gear…but something happend, it became boring. Now starting eq2x I have become addicted to it like crack, and have no problems dropping money on it.

Think about it, you can explore all the zones, do every quest in the game for free (besides the Velious xpac)

You’ll probably want to equip nice gear, and can buy unlocks pretty cheap. f2p doesn’t mean free…all the “f2p” games I have tried are micro-transaction, they are a company and need to make money is what it all boils down to.

I’ve started playing Everquest back in ‘99, ahh good ole Verant. Hooked, I then continued the near “Ever” quest to level my DE SK and Enchanter (which was a bitch back in the day) throughout middle school and soon after found myself playing EQ2 and loving my Bruiser and Necro. I quit playing around the time of TSO and switched to WoW, simply because every expansion was the same. Equip new armor sets! Wield 50 new weapons! Explore a new continent and 10 never before tread Dungeons! Complete over 150 new quests! blah blah blah. I hate it, not the game, the fact that it seems SOE has given up and is just vomiting and shitting content to Live players as a last attempt to maintain the already diminished populace of subscribers. I want story line, I want depth. I can see where they kinda maybe started to develop an eensy weensy bit of (unoriginal) plot, but in all honesty, too little too late and not creative enough for me.
This coming of EQ2X excites me though. I can travel back and try to grasp that elusive nostalgia all for FREE! I love free stuff. I’d like to see what they have changed since as well, for though you may not have detected it by this post, EQ and EQ2 will always hold a special place in my heart and I want SoE to succeed with EQ2 in the worst way. Want in one hand, shit in the other I suppose…

SOE destroyed EQ1 and utterly failed at EQ2 on launch. The game was a joke when it came out. It took WoW to show SOE all their mistakes because to this day, I dont think they have ever listened to any of their players. Sony in general, is a horrible company. I worked for them here in SD for a little over a year. They used us like slaves, made us feel bad for not working OT, underpaid us compared to other companies, and gave us no creative freedom. I hope they burn in flames and they certainly are on pace to do just that. What was their last earning report? -$3 a share? LoL.

I loved Verant. Their work on EQ will be remembered through all of MMO history. The game fell apart as when Sony came in the picture. Planes of Power spelled the beginning of the end and every player knew it though ldon added a little life to the game much later. PoP however eliminated many casual gamers and was no fun at all for anyone not raiding 24-7.

I have to say you lost all credibility when you mentioned wow. Most people play eq1 or 2 for the wealth of content and amazing story. More than that, the game looks much much better than wow ever will. It targets a mature player base and even though it’s been dumbed down over the years it still requires some skill to play. Surely everyone can push a few buttons , however the truly skilled players are those who take the time to learn the mechanics, understand their role in a group / raid and experiment over and over till they get the best results.
EQ2 is definitely not a game for most of the wow players and that is very good.
You say Eq2 is not “newb friendly ?” I think it’s pretty obvious you didn’t really play it.

Eq2 until recently was not newbie friendly at all… need I remind you what crafting was like at launch? Or how poorly populated it was for newbies back then? It was completely designed for groups and raids of experienced EQ1 PoP players. They gave the finger to everyone else. Yes it became more friendly over time after they copied WoW but lets call a duck what it is… they copied WoW formula. Does EQ2 look nicer? Sure. Does it have better mechanics? Is it better than WoW, now yes but back on launch, hell no it was horrible until they COPIED. They recreated the game using the same formula WoW was using. Gear towards casual players with a lot of solo content and small group content instead of raid content and forcing people to play certain classes.

I really like EQ2x i am having financial difficulties and while i lose some options i can continue to play even if I cant pay the subscription fee. also to those that think you transfer a character, you dont you copy from live and retain the live character as well. and as long as you keep a live subscription you get gold on the toons you transfer.

EQ2X is fine at the Bronze and Silver tiers. It’s a cheap way to play a AAA MMO title. But there are several problems with the model.

1. EQ2X is the only way to “try out” the game for free now. That means there is no longer a viable way of getting new players on the old, established EQ2 servers. With attrition over time, those established servers are going to slowly wither away. As easy as it is to level in EQ2/EQ2X, new players are going to feel invested in their EQ2X characters and are far more likely to go Gold on that service than to create new characters on the old, established servers even though …

2. EQ2X Gold players get less for their $14.99/month than EQ2 subscribers. Furthermore, EQ2 subscribers have more payment options, which let them reduce the cost below $11.99/month ($140/year) while still having access to more races. Even so, as cheap as that may be …

3. Other games have even more competitive subscriptions pricing. LOTRO subscriptions go for as cheap as $9.99/month. Champions Online is still selling lifetime subscriptions for $200 (the same cost as a single year of EQ2X Platinum). And finally …

4. Other games also provide in-game ways to earn store credit. DDO and LOTRO both let you play completely for free, and access the entire game, if you’re willing to grind for Turbine Points (generally by creating throwaway characters and completing all the easy newbie deeds).

Companies are in business to make money. But some provide a much better value proposition. And right now, both Turbine and Cryptic are providing much better value than SOE with their “free to play” offerings.

I stopped playing EQ1 back on 2003, never tried EQ2 as i didnt want to get pulled back into something that took up so much of my time!!! 8 years later I noticed that EQ2 was doing the free trial and EX2X so tried it out. I have been playing non stop for a few months now on a Bronze sub, it is an immersive and beautiful game. Very few issues (anyhing noteworthy has been ironed out ages ago) to anyone but the typical moaners who are never happy with anything. Sure, if you go to Gold sub you get more access to features but Broze get all the same content as far as the world in concerned.

IT’S FREE FOR HEAVENS SAKE!! HOW CAN YOU MOAN ABOUT THAT. IF YOU LIKE IT AND WANT TO UPGRADE SUB THEN DO SO, NOTHING LOST.

Tried Wow but although not a bad game it is just so dumbed down it seems to now appeal to 9 year olds. Cartoony graphics and just not as immersive and detailed as the EQ2 world.

EQ2 support – well I only needed to /petition once. a GM was on the scene within 5 minutes to help me sort the problem.

I for one think that this new business model is a great way to keep an old franchise thriving and I am very much enjoying the experience. So there might be better “value” gaming experiences around but they just aren’t as GOOD as EQ2 for free.

an informative thread on EQ2 extended, a rare thing on the net it seems!

however, i still have a bunch of questions to be answered that i cannot really find a straight answer for.

i started from scratch on eq2:extended since my friends did not want to pay for a full a/c. thats fine, especially as this weekend its tripple SC so upgrading the free a/c to have some good functionality is like £10 ($20 or so for our american friends ).

now if i wanted to xfer my main from the live server (currently also free so have access to xfer tokens) what am i getting? it appears i lose tradeable items, platinum, and bag space (soe have free gold accounts until next month so this is currently not a huge issue). the character i want is fully raid geared but what will i be able to use on a silver account exactly?

i dont mind free to play but with SC being used to buy almost everything it can be quite confusing. my understanding is the only thing you cant upgrade on a silver (practically free) account is extra bag slots. i think …

This blog entry is already obsolete. The author uses the original membership matrix and rules which have changed drastically. You can now buy with SC most anything your little gnome heart desires…there are unlocks for almost all of the restrictions. So, BEFORE YOU TAKE THIS BLOG ENTRY AT FACE VALUE YOU NEED TO CHECK OUT HOW OUTDATED THE INFO IS!

B-guy speaks the truth. This blog post is heavily biased and far out of date.

EQ2 Extended has given new life to the game. Its the most heavily populated server in the game with the most robust community. All levels are heavily populated and its easier to get a group then ever before. Why? Its free and there are many casual players playing and picking up the game, so the population distribution is very good.

Many people that play are Free 2 Play junkies and they all feel SOE’s model is the best, far superior to LOTRO implementation. You can play all of the content in the game, except the latest expansion which you have to pay for, and get to max level for free. If you want the best gear and grade of combat abilities and spells you do have to buy unlocks, but these are one time fees.

The only negative impact this has had on the Live servers, and it is very significant, is that the vast majority of the population is at 90 and consists of hard-core raiders. Many of these are in fact transferring to Extended. At the time of this post the plan is to merge the Live servers onto new hardware. If you want to try playing EQ2 for the first time, do not bother with the Live servers.

However, due to the success of Extended, SOE is able to invest a lot into the game that effects both Extended and Live: The above mentioned new hardware, revamp of Freeport and Qeynos, significant effort to improve client performance and graphical eye candy.

IOW, Extended turned out to be a huge win for SOE and the game known as EQ2.

In reference to acidbottle: At this time I am unaware of anything in the game that cannot be unlocked or purchased by a silver or even a bronze account. I don’t really see the point in bronze though, other then evaluation.

Finally, if you are interested in trying out EQ2 go ahead and give it a try. It free! Costs nothing to try it. Make your own evaluation. EQ2 is one of the best traditional MMO’s out and its unfortunate that its not better known.

BTW when Extended was announced I was with the doom-sayers and pretty ticked at SOE for going this direction. SOE has proven that when done right, F2P can be a very good experience. (Gosh I can’t believe I said something positive about SOE.)

Biggest problem is the obvious question of if EQ2X is so successful, why on earth must SoE keep releasing Station Cash exclusive marketplace items on the paying Live subscription servers? Why do we not have any option that turns in-game platinum into Station Cash, and why on Earth do the prices have to be so terribly expensive for simplistic pieces of mere computer data like $25 for a horse, $30 for vampire race perks, $50 for a set of furniture, $12.50 for cosmetic no-stat racial equipment, etc it all adds up very fast. What is with the nickel and diming of the paying subscribers? Many of which, hated free to play and didn’t want the item shops at all, and now we are stuck with a marketplace, that won’t let us buy anything with platinum, only cash?

Because SoE doesn’t care at all about the quality of their game or the services they provide or how they treat their customers and only care about making money. It’s as simple as that. EQ1 and 2 are great games mired down by a greedy company and it’s a real shame.

If you want to play a game made by people who care about quality and service, I suggest wow, Guild Wars or to wait for The Old Republic, as Blizzard, ArenaNET and Bioware put those two factors; quality and service, above the nickles and dimes.

lol – because they can, because people pay it WILLINGLY, something is worth what someone is willing to pay. I have a flying mount, didnt pay for it, I quested for it but if someone wanted to go and pay for a mount, good luck to them and well done SOE for making money they can use to pay for further development/new EQ games/expansions/updates or just plain PROFIT, they are a business.

No game is without gripes or unhappy people. It always amuses me when I see people say “if you want quality and good gameplay etc etc try WoW or some other game” then go play EQ2 for instance and you get talking to someone and they say “oh man I just came from WoW, it sucks so bad, the quality is so bad and the gameplay is terrible”. I am sure if I went to WoW I would get the same comments about EQ2 .Each to their own.

EQ2 Extended is totally free to play and you can play it that way perfectly well, you dont need to subscribe for money and you never need to spend a cent in station cash. Most of my guildies have never used SC once and half of them are bronze members.

My wife and I played EQ2 a small amount over the years. We’d play for like a month, leave, come back, play for a month. We kept getting drawn back to other games because of the lack of people. We pretty much went from level 1 to whatever level you’d be in plane of sky I think without seeing a single person.

We knew EQ2 went a free to play plan. We just started playing it and it’s a totally different experience. There’s people everywhere. The server is alive and fluid. It’s never fun to have to compete for mobs with other people but at the same time it’s a lot better to deal with that then not seeing a soul ever.

The free to play thing while they could potentially charge more (if you want to pay for it) is WAYYYYYYYYYY worth it. It’s like night and day the difference between the live server we played on (everfrost) to what it’s like on extended.

Does it suck not having broker access (definitely, but it reminds me of the EQ1 days of selling at torch 1) (loved that) Does it suck not having access to master spells when they drop? (yep)

Those are my only gripes. my ONLY gripes with the service they currently offer. I can deal with all of the other issues. And when I’m max level and have the AA’s I want and have explored all of the content they have to offer on maybe more then one character I may just pay the gold or platinum fee.

But until then I have to say we’re perfectly happy with the service as is.

SOE is just trying to go down the same hell crap path NCSoft went with Aion I guess – Great game, great ideas, but it sucks like hell to pay 15 EUR a month + have a shop buy stuff for real money, over $20 / acc / month should really be more than enough for a single MMO, because for that I get a full game flat at metaboli instead and they offer plenty more gameplay

When i went out to buy Everquest Classic in 2000 I paid £30(GBP), then additional money on expansions. When I installed the game, endured the 14 hour patch then found I had 30 days play time with my purchase. Happy days! Thankfully I enjoyed the game otherwise I would have felt my £30 a waste of money.

Everquest 2 Extended is free to download and play to end cap lv 90, but you are limited unless you pay a subscription. Which is fair. As for platinum membership, if you have the cash to throw at it and really enjoy the game, it has it’s perks too.

As for the race packs being a rip off, i disagree.

If you want all the races at your disposal it will cost you the shelf value of the game £30GBP (or $35USD) or you take the platinum option. Seeing as some of us will not like some races it can work out more cost effective to purchase the races that are of interest to us at a fraction of the shelf value of the game and just stick with the standard monthly subscription costs. Sony is a business at the end of the day, so it would be foolish to give something away that has cost money to produce and maintain.

I don’t mean to sound harsh, but if you want to play with all the frilly bits, your going to have to pay the subscription. At least SOE give you unlimited time to decide if the game is for you, unlike some other MMORPGs….. [cough] WoW [cough]

ok what is all the fuss about anyway? If you are going to play a live game, then play the game as it is. It wont cost you a dime just to play it. If you want more then go live and pay the 15.00 a month. But is you want to play free just play free. I paid for eq and eq2 for years. So when this free version came out I decided to try it. I had cancelled my account a couple of years ago. I like the fact you can take your time and really enjoy the game and not be pressured to do this and that just to reach a certain level or do a certain thing on the game just so you can keep up with everyone else. I mean isn’t that what is a game is all about, just to have fun. It sounds like everyone wants all the perks live has on the free game and that is not going to happen. Soe would never do that, because everyone would go free and no one would pay anymore. If you don’t like eq2 then just quit and play something else.

I am surprised that nobody understands the whoel logistics of this server’s setup.I am not surprised because i know peopel actually beleive the yDESERVE to be able to play for free,because of course all those people that work at SOE ,work for free.
I will explain this the best i can,i am not always the best at explaining things.First of all this server allows you to add that duo/tri box setup.Sure those extra accounts are restricted,but there is a HUGE advantage to even having free drige or troubador on follow.Secondly this setup allows players to play for free speeding past the super easy noob start to the game.SO what MOST people do is play through for free until much higher levels when they feel they might actually need to upgrade.

Even if one decides to play throughout to level 90 with 1-2 freebie accounts tagging behind your leet SK,it is a HUGE advantage,one that you would NEVER have on a live server.Of course if yo udon’t duo or tri box,you gain nothing by being on the EQ2x servers,imo it is your fault,it is kind of easy to duo box a Inquisitor or Templar,no reason to not take advantage of the eq2x design.

This is the MOST rediculous post ever. And with ever I mean EVER!
Almost every single sentence is wrong, but not just wrong, but TOTALLY wrong.

Read up again on differences btw. Gold, Plat and Silver memberships.
I’ve been playing Silver since a yea, got 4 Lv 90s and the only restriction I have is the Legend./Fabled Gear. But you only need taht at Lv90 anyways, so you buy a $5 unlocker, and can unlock your full set of gear (armor, jewels, weapons, EVERYTHING) and then you are equal to Gold / Plat members at absolutely NO more costs.
So the whole game cost me $15 in a year, and I can enhoy the exact same things Gold members can on Live.

Umm.. I just started plaything this game today. I played everquest 2 a long time ago with my old buddy and, well, nothing is extremely different. I mean.. as far as i’m concerned if you can run around in an environment with other players and adventure and enjoy 95% of everything in the normal everquest 2…. then why complain? I plan on buying one character package and one class package. Lol so really it just depends on how much of a gamer you are to as how much you spend.

I figures out that EQ2X is more expensive than EQ2, so I bought a 12 month sub last year.
Well, I like questing solo, but after about 3 months it was getting too lonely even for me, there’s no frakkin way in hell that I can level up my 6 chars to 85 on a live server, because 99 % of players are already Endgame Raiders, with a few twinks, but there’s nobody really to team up regularly for group quests.

I was thinking about transferring my chars (about level 50) to EQ2X, but the transfer fee is another joke . 6 times 35 USD ? no way in hell .

The result is of course that I have to diss EQ2 alltogether, too bad.

Playing Lotro now, with is nice, but lacking the incredible debt of EQ and EQ2 unfortunately. Maybe GW2 will do next year, or maybe EQ NEXT, but knowing SOE, they will probably continue ripping off people , so we’ll see…

I have a question Gordon, if you would be so kind to answer. You stated you could buy the Sentinels Fate pack, and get everything that is included with gold, plus the races. Does that still stand? Im basically looking for the cheapest way to play. I am fine with throwing money in for the sub, but i would like as much as i can without having to get anything off of the marketplace.

Who am I?

Gordon was born on the mean-streets of suburban Holland and learned to fist fight without remorse in steel cage matches at an early age. He now lives in Edinburgh with his wife and their imaginary Nigerian bodyguard, Mr Itunu.